Dr. Hedden’s program of research seeks to inform the development of learning health systems with a particular focus on primary care. In her doctoral and postdoctoral work, she identified and worked to address gaps in health system data use and data infrastructure, and has studied the impact of those gaps on primary care accessibility and workforce planning. She has explored, using physician billings, why the availability of community-based primary care has declined, despite substantial increases in the number of primary care physicians per capita. Her work is grounded in partnerships with the BC Ministry of Health, regional health authorities, health care professionals and patients.
Current research covers three related areas:
1) Advancing the theory and application of the learning health system model in BC, focusing specifically on alignment with the rollout of team-based primary care, and primary care networks
2) Examining the effects of the increasing corporatization and privatization of primary care on equity, accessibility, and quality of care
3) Exploring the increasing role of virtual care in the context of primary care, including implications for costs, service volumes (based on the degree to which virtual care duplicates or is a substitute for in-office visits), accessibility and continuity of care.
This program of work uses a variety of observational research designs and data sources, including secondary use of population-based administrative data, primary data collection using surveys and interviews of patients and health care professionals, and policy and document analysis.
